Renewable energy with storage and a smart grid

Large scale renewable energy installations that are integrated with large scale energy storage through a smart grid are the alternative to power systems based on coal-fired power stations. That alternative can be built NOW with components that are currently being produced and installed commercially. The technology already exists, but the components have not yet been integrated into a coherent renewable energy system, as far as I am aware. The existing manufacturing base for these renewable energy system is not at the scale required to replace our existing energy systems. The massive commercial and financial rewards for building these new renewable energy systems will drive the building of new manufacturing plants for the components of renewable energy systems. If we don’t build them here we will have to buy these renewable energy system components from overseas at a premium rate, it is as simple as that.

For renewable energy sources there are wind turbines that can be installed in wind farms and there are thermal solar power stations that can be built to deliver energy at competitive prices. For large scale energy storage systems sodium-sulfur batteries can be built and installed in energy warehouses. The Smart Grid is a system that can coordinate electricity usage over the grid.

Carbon trading schemes will push the cost of coal-fired power stations above the costs in the renewable energy system. There may be other international trade sanctions and tariffs applied to economies that are not reducing their use of greenhouse gas emitting power stations.

With regard to nuclear power, the United States will almost certainly build fourth generation nuclear power stations some time in the future. The main reason for that will be to have new facilities for the ongoing development and maintenance of its nuclear arsenal. They may wish to extend the use of nuclear power for domestic power supply for profit and they may wish to involve countries like Australia so that they can push the issue of a wider dump for their nuclear waste in Australia, but linking nuclear power with the global warming issue is dishonest and a furphy. It is a little like proposing a new type of 70s era cassette tape player to take on the ipod.

In Australia the public is being softened up by the media to expect huge price hikes and possible electricity supply problems with the introduction of a carbon trading scheme. Again I think this is dishonest given the opportunities with renewable energy systems and I suspect that there may be something like Enronesque market manipulation in the wind. Australia looks like it is close to following the worse possible route to changing over to renewable energy systems. We might stay with coal, we might even start building some AP6 white elephants, generation capacity may actually fall below demand because of uncertainty for investing in infrastructure, international carbon trading schemes would then punish Australia for both its domestic power generation with coal-fired power stations and with reduced exports of coal, and then we would need to import renewable energy system components and play catch up. We could have also been a world leader in renewable energy systems…

Oh, and I forgot to mention an emissions trading scheme that actually gives huge handouts to the biggest polluters and has a reduction target of – wait for it – 5%. Not bad, eh?

***

9 Sept 09

An ambiguity: Is the Parable of the Ten Virgins on a superficial level about storing fuel as oil, or is it more about preparing a vessel for storing energy for when it is needed. What is wise and what is foolish? Who looks for the spirit of the message or who reads the text for the literal words? Wise or foolish: which is which? And how do you decide between the alternatives?

Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.

And five of them were wise, and five were foolish

They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:

But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps…

– King James Version

via Parable of the Ten Virgins – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.